“Has the time of the descent of immortals arrived?”
The land was flat and barren. Nothing would have been unique about the lifeless land if not for the largest mountain of the Demon Cage Realm being situated here. Yet, the speaker was nowhere to be found.
Instead, the words seemed to be emanating from the mountain itself, filled with the vicissitude of time. The mountain itself seemed inconspicuous, if not for the fact that it was surrounded in layers upon layers of blinding white chains.
It wasn’t what was outside that was important, but inside.
The hollowed inside of the mountain didn’t appear dark or dingy at all. Instead, there was bright sunlight, clear blue skies with drifting clouds, a sea at the bottom with pillar-like formations popping up, and numerous plants, including fruit trees and vegetables, growing on the pillar-like formations. On the most prominent rock pillar existed a wooden palace covered in vines, and inside sat a golden-furred monkey wearing ancient bronze armor with a helmet covering his ears.
In front of him were three apparitions: one in the shape of a giant bird, one a gargantuan sea serpent, and the final one the size and shape of a normal rabbit, contrasting greatly against the other two.
“No, great Mountain King, it is not the time for the immortal to descend yet.” The speaker was the apparition of the sea serpent.
“Then why have the three of you appeared in my Flower Fruit Grotto? Don’t tell me, you’re still interested in an old monkey like me?” The monkey rubbed his chin with a teasing smile. “You three haven’t visited me many times since you entered the True Demon Realm.”
“Forgive our lack of courtesy. After entering our current realm, our view of time has changed.” The rabbit apparition said.
“No matter, no matter.” The Mountain King said as he airily waved his hand. “I just think it’s a pity that I won’t see you guys anymore after the immortals descend, so you should visit me more. Your predecessors were the same.”
At those words, the three apparitions became silent. It was unknown if they were offended or agitated by the Mountain King’s words, but the monkey didn’t mind. “Speak, since you aren’t here for pleasantries, why have you come?”
“We are here to inform you that we are going to break free of this prison and enter the outside world.” The three of them said.
The Mountain King moved his pinkie to pick his ears, but he forgot that he had a helmet on, so he picked his nose instead. “It won’t work. You three are extremely talented to enter the True Demon Realm in such a short time frame and conditions, but you still lack the power to break out. Your predecessors had more than ten true demons, although they took longer to reach the realm than you three. What makes you three think you could succeed where they failed? At best, you would be sealed under mountains like me and the other demons above the True Demon Realm.”
“Then should we let them reap our lives without fighting? Continue to let them farm our descendants like mere livestock!?” The bird apparition roared in indignity.
“What can you do? You don’t have the power to change anything. You’d have a higher chance of escaping and repopulating your clan than saving your descendants.” The Mountain King said lightheartedly. “You should probably choose which women are fertile enough for you to bring away.”
“I respect your strength, but your personality is the worst!” The bird apparition said and tensed his facial muscles. “Aren’t you tired of being cooped up here? What if we said we had a way to free you?”
The Mountain King’s eyes alighted with surprise and delight before it quickly dimmed again. “Hmpf, stop joking. Do you really think that my seal is so easily broken? It is being constantly watched by that old fogey, the moment you three take action is the day you three perish. Don’t shorten your lifespan so carelessly.”
“Is there no way we can convince you?” The sea serpent apparition asked with a low mood.
“My strength is far greater than you three think. Even my pinkie is more than enough to kill the three of you. And besides, escaping is harder than leaving this prison. You have no idea of the strength of those that control this realm.” The Mountain King said, his tone unnaturally heavy.
“Thank you for your advice, but we will continue to prepare. We must leave before the next time the immortals descend. Or else, we might as well suicide now if there’s no hope for the future.” The rabbit apparition said before disappearing.
The sea serpent apparition also disappeared since it knew that nothing it said would convince the strongest sealed demon of the Demon Cage Realm. The bird apparition, however, had some last words before leaving. “Even if we won’t survive the next immortals’ descent, we must make them pay the price for daring to send mere mortals to reap our descendants like simple livestock.”
Once the bird apparition also disappeared, the Mountain King lost its lackadaisical attitude and sat upright. “You three are still too young, too young. Sigh, I was finally reborn after escaping death, but I never expected to be captured again before regaining my strength.”
“So, if you can find a way to apply the knowledge from Earth into your cultivation method or techniques, your efficiency will increase. At least, that’s what I’ve experienced.” Tianyi said as he advised his fellow reincarnators. “In other words, the more knowledge of natural science you learned, the better your mileage. Think of it as a new game plus.”
“I only got a high school diploma. I didn’t go to college since I already had a job and a career,” Daoyi said.
Xi Ri coughed. “I didn’t have much time to get a high school diploma, only a GED since I had to spend most of my time working part-time jobs before the world went to hell.”
“So all three of us basically screwed our advantage up,” Tianyi said, speechless.
“Didn’t you go to college, though?” Daoyi asked.
“My major was business. It had nothing to do with science.” Tianyi awkwardly said as he scratched his cheek.
The three looked at each other before laughing at the same time.
“Hm?” Tianyi turned his head and looked down at the passing scenery with some interest. Not long after, a strange expression appeared on Tianyi’s face as he turned back.
“Something wrong?” Daoyi asked. As the controller of the immortal boat, Tianyi had his spiritual sense spread out to detect any abnormalities.
“I just saw a man peeping on a woman bathing in a stream and getting caught,” Tianyi said.
“So he got lucky?” Xi Ri said, unsure of why Tianyi was making such a strange face.
“Doesn’t it sound like some cliche plot of the protagonist getting into a misunderstanding with a potential love interest slash harem member? Later after the misunderstanding is cleared, the female has a good impression and feels guilty towards the man, leading to feelings that would later turn into love.” Tianyi said.
“Does it? I didn’t have much time to spend on entertainment in my last life. I actually preferred watching the news more.” Xi Ri said.
“Is that so? Now that I recall, it was your idea to make the cultivation version of a smartphone. No offense, wouldn’t it have been easier to replicate something else since you don’t have the basic knowledge of how to make a smartphone?” Daoyi asked. From their past interaction, she deduced that Xi Ri didn’t have much contact with smartphones at all, but directly pointing it out would have been too rude.
“Tianyi doesn’t know how to make a smartphone either, but did he make it in the end? I didn’t want to replicate the technology, but the concept.” Xi Ri explained. “Plus, I actually wanted to have a smartphone and become like a certain technology company’s president. It’s something unimaginable for the past me.”
Tianyi chuckled. “So you wanted to strike it rich. But what about your dreams of creating a utopia?”
“Those two goals don’t have to be exclusive. Being rich would certainly help me in the future. Compared to becoming an immortal, this seems like a much more tangible goal to me.” Xi Ri said.
“Why does it sound like you don’t plan on reaching the Immortal Realm?” Daoyi asked.
“Of course, I plan to do my best. The more time I have, the more likely I will reach my goal. But how many people can actually reach the point of undergoing immortal ascension, much less pass? My chances are slim at best.” Xi Ri said.
Tianyi facepalmed. “Haven’t you heard? Attitude determines your success. If you are so fatalistic about your chances, then you’ve already lost the battle. We have advantages other cultivators don’t. My mother is the publicly acclaimed number one expert, Daoyi is her disciple, and you are her nephew. Plus, we are reincarnators. It would be a waste to fail. Have hope!”
Xi Ri laughed. “Alright, I’ll have confidence.”
Tianyi sighed when he saw that Xi Ri didn’t take his words seriously. He could understand Xi Ri’s point of view. If attitude determined everything, then reality would not be reality. How many people hoped to succeed? How many succeeded?
Not long after, Xi Ri and Daoyi began to meditate. It had already been a week, but they had yet to fully adjust to the environment of the Demon Cage Realm. Most likely, not even nascent soul grandmasters would be able to adjust to the environment so quickly. Soul nourishing grandmasters would only be better by a little bit since they relied on the strength of the body more than qi. Tianyi estimated that most would choose to acclimate around the protection of the Descending Immortal Embassy for a month before taking action, the average ones at least.
A day later, Tianyi suddenly stopped the immortal boat.
“What’s wrong?” Daoyi asked.
“Did something happen?” Xi Ri added.
Tianyi pointed in a direction outside of the immortal boat. When Daoyi and Xi Ri looked over, they saw a lone human being chased by three hound-like demons. Each of the demons was at least three meters long and exuded enlightened savageness.
“Humans?” Daoyi said in surprise.
“Thinking about it, it wouldn’t be a surprise if humans did live here.” Xi Ri said. “We only heard that this is a world ruled by demons, there wasn’t anything that said humans don’t live here. But in a world ruled by demons, their lives probably aren’t good.”
“So let’s save them,” Tianyi said, causing the two to look at him. Realizing that they got the wrong idea, he quickly explained. “Not all the humans, just him. I don’t care enough to save people I don’t see or know, but if they appear before me, I don’t mind saving them.”
Daoyi clapped. “Hurray for the descent of Savior Xi, messiah from the higher realm.”
Tianyi’s face started to flush. “Stop teasing me. You’re making me feel self-conscious.”
“Alright, I’ll stop. Otherwise, the person down there really might die.” Daoyi said as she looked at the shortening distance between the man and three demons.
Tianyi controlled the immortal boat and instantly arrived above the four beings and unleashed a lightning-type sealing formation, preventing the four from leaving.
“Who!?” The leader of the three demons growled. He looked up and saw the powerful aura emanating from the immortal boat and felt his pupils shrink.
From the immortal boat floated down two figures, a young man and woman. They were naturally Daoyi and Xi Ri. Tianyi told them to fight since it would help them acclimate to the Demon Cage Realm faster.
Taking out her guqin, she thrummed the strings and sent out soul attacks towards two of the demons. To her surprise, the two demons fell and died in ten seconds under her barrage of attacks.
“Strange, when I used the same attack before, even an acupoint opening master would have lasted longer,” Daoyi exclaimed in surprise.
“It’s not strange at all,” Tianyi said as he stepped out from the immortal boat. “At lower levels, a demon’s soul is weak compared to humans’. Think about it, the origins of demons are creatures who opened up their spirituality. So even if their body is naturally strong, without thought, their soul is weak. In contrast, humans already have their spirituality opened at birth, unless they are born with a mental defect.”
“Then is Shuijing a demon too?” Daoyi asked. Her spiritual beast was a beast born from an egg, but from Tianyi’s explanation, that would mean that Shuijing was a demon.
Tianyi pointedly ignored the spider that had crawled on Daoyi’s shoulder. “Fundamentally, yes. However, even if a spiritual beast hasn’t opened its spirituality, it can still be a spiritual beast. In the end, what separates a demon from a spiritual beast is that demons aren’t on our side.”
Tianyi paused for a bit before adding, “For creatures that are powerful, but haven’t opened up their spirituality, those are monsters. They are different from demons who know how to think.”
Daoyi nodded in understanding. “Then what about higher realm demons, will their souls be weak in comparison to a cultivator in the same realm?”
Tianyi shrugged. “Demons take longer to cultivate than humans. But this means they have plenty of time to accumulate, even if their soul doesn’t grow as fast. Luckily, these demons only just formed their cores, so their soul is still quite weak. I feel that this exercise is quite meaningless for you.”
Tianyi and Daoyi glanced at Xi Ri, who was still locked into battle with the final demon.
Xi Ri was using a staff to swat away the demon’s attacks and counterattack by hitting the head in the same exact spot over and over again. His technique seemed like nothing spectacular, but Tianyi could see that Xi Ri was bending space around his staff.
It was as if a void was coated around both ends of Xi Ri’s staff. Not only did this increase the speed and power of the staff heads, but whenever Xi Ri blocked with it, the demon’s attack seemed to glide over as if slipping off the surface of a sphere.
The last demon had long noticed that he was in dire straights. His two companions were defeated, and he could detect the terrifying aura from Tianyi even with him just standing there. It knew that it was facing a losing battle with no escape, especially with it being trapped.
Suddenly, it leaped back and barked out. “Humans, you will regret this. For you to dare to strike us demons, you will receive retribution and have your race massacred!”
Facing such a threat, Tianyi felt the corner of his lips twitch. “Really? Would people even care if a dog demon like you disappeared? You don’t belong to any of the first or second-rate clans, I can’t recall any large demon clans led by dogs. So is that all you have to say before you die?”
“Hmpf, you are wrong, human. The three great clans are recruiting any demon that has formed a core. If you let me go now, I won’t take revenge in the future. Otherwise, you will definitely be sieged by hundreds of demons in the future!”
“Sorry,” Tianyi said to Xi Ri. Before the demon could react, a hole appeared in his head, and he fell down dead. Waving his head, Tianyi took the three demon corpses. Even if he or Xi Ri and Daoyi didn’t have a use for them, he could still give them to the sect for contribution points. “Seriously, this demon was too talkative.”
“Did he honestly expect us to believe him?” Daoyi asked. Did the demon take them for idiots?
“Tianyi, weren’t you the one who said to have me train. Why did you take my opponent?” Xi Ri asked as he tried to catch his breath.
“I already apologized, didn’t I? Besides, I didn’t want him to continue to yap away.” Tianyi glanced at the staff in Xi Ri’s hand. “Didn’t you win your spot? Do you only have this one technique?”
Xi Ri raised his hand defensively. “I can’t help it. I’m still not used to the sparse spiritual qi. If I used any of my other techniques, my qi would be drained dry too fast, so I chose a stable method. It’s just that you and Daoyi are too strong.”
“…you…you…”
The trio turned towards the man. Perhaps due to the fright, he had fallen onto his butt and was pointing at Tianyi, Daoyi, and Xi Ri with a shaking hand. He wore tan robes, but it and his skin were marred in dirt and his hair was in disarray.
“D-did you descend from the immortal world? Are you here to save us!?”